Coincidence?

To sir with laughs: AP wrote about this today, MSNBC had the visuals and now everyone’s talking about it.

Apparently, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a special veto letter to an assemblyman that contained a hidden message — an expletive followed by the letters y-o-u was spelled out vertically using the first letter of each line down the left-hand side.

The letter is being seen as possibly the governor’s retaliation for some derogatory phrases the assemblyman yelled at him as he gave a speech at a Democratic Party fundraiser earlier this month.

An L.A. Times reporter told MSNBC that the governor has a mischievous sense of humor and is known for playing these kinds of pranks.

Still, Schwarzenegger’s spokesperson has called it a “strange coincidence” and said that in the past, letters down the left-hand margin have spelled out “poet” or “soap.”

”We will call it even and start with a clean slate with the governor from here on out,” the legislator’s spokesman said.

New law

Shephard/Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Today President Obama signed new legislation that broadens hate crimes to include attacks based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability. Current hate crimes law protects against attacks based on race, color, religion or national origin.

The new bill is named for Matthew Shephard, a gay Wyoming college student who was murdered and found tied to a fence in 1998, and James Byrd Jr., a black man who was chained to a truck by three white men and dragged to his death that same year.

“After more than a decade of opposition and delay, we’ve passed inclusive hate crimes legislation to help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are,” Obama said.

Still talking

Palin vs. Levi: Levi Johnston was on another show today to spill the beans about his almost mother-in-law, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. And what he told the folks at the “Early Show” was pretty awful.

Johnston said that Palin has called her youngest son, who has Down syndrome, by some disparaging names. He also said that he has a lot more damaging things he could say.

In response, Palin released a statement saying that Johnston is lying and that people should “consider the source” particularly since he has shown to be attention-seeking with plans to appear nude in an issue of Playgirl magazine.

Comedy

Motivated to make jokes: And Jon Stewart had some characteristically sarcastic things to say about former President George W. Bush’s recent appearance as a motivational speaker.

“Basically the president broke his silence to speak at the live equivalent of one of those creepy low-budget commercials for exercise equipment you’re never gonna use.”